Interesting and enjoyable interview with TN. His history and knowledge of early Kawasaki triples was fantastic. I remember reading about him in my youth (I'm now retired), but I've never seen or heard him speak until now. Brilliant !
Thank you, Wow!...Hard to believe that was 28 years ago. I haven't seen Tony since but I have talked to him on phone a few times in past few years. He lives in Florida!
Tony built quite a bit of stuff for me, my brother and a friend. We were all bike drag racers living in Hastings, NE area at the time. My brother and I worked at a speed shop that still exists today and sells Shelby America AC Cobra replicas as well as first class machine work. The current owner was a customer and so respected that shop that it still carries Gessford Machine name. I digressed but it was a key part of all our racing as we did most of our bike work there and at Wolfe Kawasaki where our friend worked. Tony did a number of head and port jobs for my brother and I on our 500s and 750s plus multiple sets of expansion chambers and carb parts. He also built a 500 engine for me to race pro stock class was supposed to be 80hp and based on times probably close to that. Ran a 9.96 128 at Bell Fouche SD track in 1976 or 77 on that bike. Had Tony's famous one wheel wheelie bar on it. My brother's 1972 750cc ran an 11.8 at Kearney NE. It had expansion chambers and maybe some head or cylinder work Tony did. The really cool bike was our friends 900 Kaw! He sent it to Tony for a rebuild and I think it did 130 HP. One of the coolest sounding street machines of any kind I have ever heard. Our shop boss and my brother always said it sounded just like the Offy's running at Indy. It was so unique you always knew when he was dragging the streets. He could never get it under 10 seconds which Tony had guaranteed it would do in a full street mode. He ran low 11s high tens. One day when he was complaining to Tony on the phone that it wasn't getting there, Tony asked him how much he weighed. '320#' LOL Tony told him he needed to let me ride it, I weighed 148 at the time. It was amazing, first time on a 900, ran 9.42et and 148! Tony was happy and so was the owner LOL My brother and a friend went to SF area where Tony's shop was on a road trip. Tony was a gracious host but very hobbled up at the time. He was recovering from a bad wreck on his 750 pro stock bike. Ran 150 mph and got high speed wobble thru the lights. He got puked off the bike and beat up pretty good. Spent quite a while in the hospital and was still recovering. What a tough guy. I talked to him often in my short drag racing career but he was always a wealth of info and willing to help. He even gave me great advice on tuning my 500 pro stock bike for Denver high altitude and how not to let my competition get in my mind. One of the racers out of Pueblo CO area at the time was someone that raced the circuit and Tony knew. Can't remember his name but he ran a Suzuki water buffalo 750s that was sponsored by the dealer in Pueblo or Trinidad CO. Every other race, 2 a month back then at Bandamier we ran off national records. I got a few tenths head start on him based on class records. With Tony's advice and tuning tips I finally beat him one weekend straight up no red light or anything (I had panicked most of my races against him and got the big red light giving him a free pass). They gave checks instead of trophies for those weekends, I have never forgot that big win $50 LOL probably bought something from Tony with it! That was summer of 1976 as I was still working in NE. I was so proud of that one. The racing business certainly could have used more Tony Nicosia's, he was always willing to help and even gave me a great deal on the 500cc triple, special road race crank that went into my 500. Don't know what our friend paid for his 900 build but I had close to $5000 in my pro stock bike (included purchase of the used 500 I had owned once before) and nothing fancy about it, a chunk of change back then. Wish I would have met him in person but always felt like I knew him because he would always chat and listen to my troubles and successes on the phone. I am sure he had better things to do. So funny he likely knew Bo Derek, I came close to meeting her in the horse biz a couple of times. She was friends with a ranch owner in WY that I knew well. They both raised Andalusian horses and bought and sold from each other. Guess horses and bike racing mesh 🙂. Sorry for the long wordy comment but Tony was 'The Best'!
Way down here in New Zealand all Kwack triple owners i new new who he was .I wish i kept my triples,be sitting on a goldmine now.Very interesting interveiw.Thanks For putting it on here.
Interesting and enjoyable interview with TN. His history and knowledge of early Kawasaki triples was fantastic. I remember reading about him in my youth (I'm now retired), but I've never seen or heard him speak until now. Brilliant !
Thank you, Wow!...Hard to believe that was 28 years ago. I haven't seen Tony since but I have talked to him on phone a few times in past few years. He lives in Florida!
Tony built quite a bit of stuff for me, my brother and a friend. We were all bike drag racers living in Hastings, NE area at the time. My brother and I worked at a speed shop that still exists today and sells Shelby America AC Cobra replicas as well as first class machine work. The current owner was a customer and so respected that shop that it still carries Gessford Machine name. I digressed but it was a key part of all our racing as we did most of our bike work there and at Wolfe Kawasaki where our friend worked. Tony did a number of head and port jobs for my brother and I on our 500s and 750s plus multiple sets of expansion chambers and carb parts. He also built a 500 engine for me to race pro stock class was supposed to be 80hp and based on times probably close to that. Ran a 9.96 128 at Bell Fouche SD track in 1976 or 77 on that bike. Had Tony's famous one wheel wheelie bar on it. My brother's 1972 750cc ran an 11.8 at Kearney NE. It had expansion chambers and maybe some head or cylinder work Tony did. The really cool bike was our friends 900 Kaw! He sent it to Tony for a rebuild and I think it did 130 HP. One of the coolest sounding street machines of any kind I have ever heard. Our shop boss and my brother always said it sounded just like the Offy's running at Indy. It was so unique you always knew when he was dragging the streets. He could never get it under 10 seconds which Tony had guaranteed it would do in a full street mode. He ran low 11s high tens. One day when he was complaining to Tony on the phone that it wasn't getting there, Tony asked him how much he weighed. '320#' LOL Tony told him he needed to let me ride it, I weighed 148 at the time. It was amazing, first time on a 900, ran 9.42et and 148! Tony was happy and so was the owner LOL My brother and a friend went to SF area where Tony's shop was on a road trip. Tony was a gracious host but very hobbled up at the time. He was recovering from a bad wreck on his 750 pro stock bike. Ran 150 mph and got high speed wobble thru the lights. He got puked off the bike and beat up pretty good. Spent quite a while in the hospital and was still recovering. What a tough guy. I talked to him often in my short drag racing career but he was always a wealth of info and willing to help. He even gave me great advice on tuning my 500 pro stock bike for Denver high altitude and how not to let my competition get in my mind. One of the racers out of Pueblo CO area at the time was someone that raced the circuit and Tony knew. Can't remember his name but he ran a Suzuki water buffalo 750s that was sponsored by the dealer in Pueblo or Trinidad CO. Every other race, 2 a month back then at Bandamier we ran off national records. I got a few tenths head start on him based on class records. With Tony's advice and tuning tips I finally beat him one weekend straight up no red light or anything (I had panicked most of my races against him and got the big red light giving him a free pass). They gave checks instead of trophies for those weekends, I have never forgot that big win $50 LOL probably bought something from Tony with it! That was summer of 1976 as I was still working in NE. I was so proud of that one. The racing business certainly could have used more Tony Nicosia's, he was always willing to help and even gave me a great deal on the 500cc triple, special road race crank that went into my 500. Don't know what our friend paid for his 900 build but I had close to $5000 in my pro stock bike (included purchase of the used 500 I had owned once before) and nothing fancy about it, a chunk of change back then. Wish I would have met him in person but always felt like I knew him because he would always chat and listen to my troubles and successes on the phone. I am sure he had better things to do. So funny he likely knew Bo Derek, I came close to meeting her in the horse biz a couple of times. She was friends with a ranch owner in WY that I knew well. They both raised Andalusian horses and bought and sold from each other. Guess horses and bike racing mesh 🙂. Sorry for the long wordy comment but Tony was 'The Best'!
Thanks for the comment/story.....Great Story....Great Times...Oh, to go back in Time! LOL!
Way down here in New Zealand all Kwack triple owners i new new who he was .I wish i kept my triples,be sitting on a goldmine now.Very interesting interveiw.Thanks For putting it on here.
Thank you! Hats off to New Zealanders! You guys have always been extraordinary "Triple" enthusiasts!